Salem, Oregon
--After defeating an election challange by Attorney Kelly Clark,
who attempted to have her removed from the November ballot, Constitution
Party gubernatorial candidate Mary Starrett is now being prevented
from participating in the upcoming televised debate.

The Rogue
Valley chapter of the League of Women Voters decided to withdraw
its sponsorship of the gubernatorial debate because the two party-machine
candidates -- Republican Saxton and incumbant Democrat Gov. Ted
Kulongoski -- gave third party candidates the thumbs down.

According
to the Mail
Tribune, the League of Women Voters of Oregon recently opened
its sponsored debates to any candidate who receives at least 5
percent support in an independent poll.

But the debate's
co-sponsor KOBI Channel 5 joined forces with Saxton and Kulongoski
to prevent Starrett and candidates from the Libertarian and Green
parties to participate.

Theoretically,
the Green Party could hurt Kulongoski chances for re-election
opening up a chance for victory by Starrett. While he leads in
the polls, his 44% poll number could decrease if Oregon's Green
Party candidate Joseph Keating's message resonates with the state's
left-wing voters.

"This proves
that the two party system is a sham, designed to give the illusion
of choice," said NewswithViews.com's Paul Walter.

While Walter
expects the Democrats and Republicans attempt at stifling independent
voices such as the Constitution Party, he's disappointed over
a supposed nonpartisan media organization such as KOBI playing
politics by nixing Mary Starrett's participation in an important
debate.

League of
Women Voters of the Willamette Valley are also standing up for
choice by pulling out of co-sponsoring a debate with KATU TV in
the Portland area for the same reason the Rogue Valley chapter
did.

In a press
statement, Mary
Starrett commended the League's
separate decisions to drop their sponsorship of scheduled televised
debates because voters would be not allowed to hear about ALL
their choices in the governor race.

Starrett
said, "These groups stood their ground. In removing themselves
as sponsors of the TV debates on KOBI TV in Medford and KATU TV
in Portland, they have remained true to the voters."

Meanwhile,
Saxton is wavering at about 34% and political observers claim
he fears debating the popular and articulate Starrett, who is
well known in Oregon thanks to her work as a news anchorwoman
and a highly rated radio talk show. An open debate with Starrett
would reveal that Saxton is a liberal attempting to portray himself
as a conservative.

According
to the Mail Tribune, after months of planning, the league decided
it wouldn't co-sponsor the debate with KOBI Channel 5 because
Gov. Ted Kulongoski, his Republican challenger Ron Saxton, and
KOBI managers were all unwilling to open the debate to candidates
who could show at least 5 percent support to participate, said
Trish Bowcock, president of the League of Women Voters of the
Rogue Valley.

"We were
put in the position of saying we wouldn't follow our own rules,
and we couldn't do that," Bowcock told the reporter.

"They were
given the format," she said, "but they agreed to everything but
the 5 percent rule"

This decision
means the debate will be closed to Mary Starrett, the Constitution
Party's candidate for governor, as well as Libertarian candidate
Richard Morley and Joseph Keating of the Pacific Green Party of
Oregon.

While the
League's sponsorship provides credibility to political debates,
the gubernatorial debate is still scheduled for live broadcast
on Channel 5 from 6:30 to 8 p.m., Oct. 24. The league estimated
that the debate could reach as many as 380,000 registered voters
in Southern Oregon. Kulongoski and Saxton will field questions
from members of the news media, including Bob Hunter, Mail Tribune
editor.

Meanwhile,
the Kulongoski and Saxton camps denied blocking the participation
of third party candidates. For instance, Angela Wilhelms, spokesperson
for the Saxton campaign who unsuccessfully attempted to have Starrett
removed from the November ballot, said she wasn't aware of any
concern about minor-party candidates.

"We were
given a format and asked to participate and we agreed," she said.
"We haven't had any follow-up conversations with anybody about
this."

But Bob Wise,
vice president and general manager of KOBI, told the Tribune a
different story: Wise said that after discussing the 5 percent
issue with the Kulongoski and Saxton campaigns "It became apparent
that that was an issue [for them]."

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In essence,
the Saxton and Kulongoski deny blocking Starrett and KOBI Channel
5's management is denying any involvement in banning her from
the televised debate.

"Then who's
keeping Starrett out of the debate? And why is the League of Women
Voters withdrawing from co-sponsoring the debate with KOBI?" asks
Paul Walter.